Germany's ambassador-designate to Israel, Alexander Lambsdorff, visited Yad Vashem on Monday for his first official engagement, emphasising Berlin's historical responsibility toward Israel and the Jewish people.
"In Yad Vashem for my first official visit. Remembering the Shoah, I feel the responsibility that emerges from Nazi Germany's past for my country's future and its relations to Israel and the Jewish people today," Lambsdorff wrote on X, adding that he looks forward to continued cooperation with Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan.
Lambsdorff, who arrived in Israel on Thursday, introduced himself publicly last week, saying he was "honoured" to be designated Germany's next ambassador and inviting followers to track his work in the coming years.
In a video message posted on Friday, he said he was looking forward to working in Tel Aviv and highlighted the strength of bilateral ties.
"Germany and Israel have a wonderful and incredible relationship," he said. "It's built on a very painful history, but it's now in a phase where we cooperate on a level that's absolutely unprecedented, and my task really is to take that cooperation further."
Lambsdorff previously served as Germany's ambassador to Russia from 2023 to 2026 and is a former member of both the European Parliament and the German Bundestag.
His appointment comes at a difficult time for German-Israeli relations, with the Jewish state criticising European allies over their response to the Gaza War and a wave of antisemitism surging across the continent.
Last month, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, warned that antisemitism is becoming the country's “new normal” after a chilling report revealed almost 9,000 antisemitic incidents in a single year.
The annual report from the Research and Information Centre on Antisemitism (RIAS) revealed that 8,725 antisemitic incidents were recorded across Germany’s 16 federal states in 2025 – 24 incidents every day.
Schuster said the relentless barrage of abuse, aggressive threats and outright attacks on Jews now risks turning Germany into a society where anti-Jewish hatred is simply accepted as routine behaviour.
"8,725 antisemitic incidents, around 24 a day – these are not statistical outliers, they are the depressing reality in Germany," he said.
"Instead of a calming of the situation, we are experiencing an entrenchment of antisemitism…The almost everyday presence of hatred of Jews is leading to the creation of a new normality.”
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